Growing up just two doors apart, Chris and Lee were inseparable from Terry and Jo, two siblings aged almost the exact same. The parents got on, too. The kids frequently slept, were fed, and were even sometimes punished together.

Later, they went their separate ways, of course, but as family occasions summoned them home, friendships were rekindled. Eventually that became love, and finally a date was set for a double marriage.

In fact the ceremony nearly didn’t happen: the celebrant refused. Fortunately, two quick changes of clothing and several glasses of champagne later, he was in no position to notice.

February 2016 witnessed adebate about whether the state should have a right to hack into a terrorist's mobile phone. Apple had refused the request of the FBI, arguing that if the FBI were able to hack in, so could all sorts of bad people. There was also a general privacy argument.

When you leave your backdoor open, it makes my life so much easier. I get to see how much money you have in the bank – which means of course I can take it out. I can read your emails, listen to your phone calls, find out all of your contacts’ details – I can even keep it all on file if I want to. I can even see who you’re sleeping with. Even when your computer’s asleep. Or your mobile. I can go wherever I like.Fortunately, you know you can trust me.Thank you for letting me into your life.

Invariably exciting, these presidential elections were exceptional – some Plutonians were even making scones and tea. Amongst the front runners, one loudmouth candidate promised to “Make Pluto Great Again”, appealing greatly to voters disaffected by Pluto’s recent deplanetifaction. He also promised to build a wall between Saturn and Jupiter and make Neptunians pay for it.Of the others, one revolutionary promised to give Plutonians everything they wanted. Another, disliked although no one could remember why, was the wife a former president. The rest believed that the Sun was merely a neon light.It was all too stressful. Time for more tea.

Planning for a world population of eight billion is not straightforward.

First, it’s necessary to make mobile phones, iPads, Skype and built-in cameras desired by everyone. GPS tracking is easy. Then comes the tricky bit: develop fingerprint and face recogniton, accurate enough to link to that GPS tracking. The population collaborates willingly, telling everyone on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter what they’re doing. The entire world’s activities are recorded.

One last problem: there’s mountains of data about who’s meeting whom, who’s working where, who’s sleeping with whom. It’s too much. How to proceed?

Easy. Pick on the people you don’t like.

Flash Fiction

﻿﻿Flash fiction is very, very short fiction indeed - short stories of any sort of length from a Haiku to ten minutes' reading. Good for when you're in a hurry. This series is a selection of contributions to Friday Flash Fiction, where there's a limit of 100 words. I try to make all mine exactly 100 words.﻿﻿